No Number plates? Beware!!

THE days are numbered for South African motorists who drive their vehicles without number plates in Port Elizabeth, as traffic officials are cracking down on offenders.

Reacting to claims that there appears to be an increase in the number of vehicles driven without registration plates and particularly in the wake of the Fifa World Cup, when the city was flooded with traffic officials, municipal spokesman Kupido Baron said while this could not be confirmed, the traffic officials did have information on how many vehicles were fined for this offence.

“During June, 68 vehicles were charged for different offences (involving) number plates, such as not having it displayed, number plates being obscured by tow bars and illegal number plates,” he said, adding that the number of fines issued for such offences varied from month to month.

He said the traffic department was strictly enforcing laws related to number plates.

When caught, offenders can expect to fork out R300 a number plate. And, based conservatively on just one number plate offence a vehicle, drivers were collectively fined a whopping R20400 on the city’s streets during June.

According to Baron, a person may only drive without a number plate if a temporary permit has been issued. A temporary permit is valid for 21 days and is only given to new vehicles before they get registered.

“Similarly, the only other condition under which a motorist can drive without a number plate is when a special permit is issued to a driver who has bought a second-hand vehicle which must still be registered in the new owner’s name or the vehicle needs to be repaired,” he said.